[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 106 (Monday, June 24, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4458-S4459]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. THUNE (for himself and Mr. Carper):
S. 1948. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permit
high deductible health plans to provide chronic disease prevention
services to plan enrollees prior to satisfying their plan deductible;
to the Committee on Finance.
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of
the bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 1948
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Chronic
Disease Management Act of 2019''.
(b) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) A small number of chronic diseases account for the
majority of health care spending in the United States.
(2) The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health of the
Department of Health and Human Services used a deliberative
process involving the Multiple Chronic Conditions working
group subject matter experts in clinical medicine,
epidemiology, and public
[[Page S4459]]
health to develop a list of 20 chronic conditions that are
prevalent and potentially amenable to public health or
clinical interventions, or a combination of both.
(3) Limited and targeted interventions for many chronic
diseases prevent the need for additional, more costly
therapies associated with untreated or unmanaged chronic
diseases that lead to adverse effects on quality of life for
patients.
(4) These types of chronic care preventive services should
be encouraged to maximize the effectiveness and positive
outcomes of the care provided under high deductible health
plans.
(5) Section 223(c)(2)(C) of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 explicitly grants the Secretary of the Treasury
flexibility in defining the scope of preventive care for
purposes of the preventive care safe harbor. As of the date
of introduction of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury
has refrained from exercising existing authority under such
section to expand the preventive care safe harbor to include
chronic disease prevention.
(6) In the absence of an expansion of the preventive care
safe harbor by the Secretary of the Treasury, the Chronic
Disease Management Act of 2019 would expressly permit high-
deductible health plans to provide chronic disease prevention
and treatment, subject to certain limitations, prior to a
plan enrollee having met their plan deductible.
(7) Allowing health savings account-eligible high-
deductible health plans to cover chronic disease prevention
and treatment on a pre-deductible basis promotes the concept
of Value-Based Insurance Design, which is an effective tool
to improve the quality and reduce the cost of care for
Americans with chronic diseases, with improved outcomes via
increased medication adherence, reduced complications, and
decreased emergency department visits.
SEC. 2. CHRONIC DISEASE PREVENTION.
(a) In General.--Section 223(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 is amended by redesignating subparagraph (D) as
subparagraph (E) and by inserting after subparagraph (C) the
following new subparagraph:
``(D) Safe harbor for absence of deductible for care
related to chronic conditions.--A plan shall not fail to be
treated as a high deductible health plan by reason of failing
to have a deductible for care related to the treatment of any
chronic condition, as determined by the Assistant Secretary
for Health of the Department of Health and Human Services.''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section
shall apply to coverage for months beginning after the date
of the enactment of this Act.
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By Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Ms. Smith):
S. 1949. A bill to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch
Act to require the Secretary of Agriculture to make loan guarantees and
grants to finance certain improvements to school lunch facilities, to
train school food service personnel, and for other purposes; to the
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleague from
Minnesota, Senator Smith, in introducing the School Food Modernization
Act to assist schools in updating outdated kitchen equipment, allowing
them to provide healthier meals to students.
School meals play a vital role in the lives of our young people. More
than 95,000 schools participate in the National School Lunch program,
serving upwards of 30 million children each day. Many children consume
up to half their daily caloric intake at school, and some get their
most nutritious meal of the day at school instead of at home. Because
school meals are a significant source of daily nutrition for so many,
we must consistently aim to improve the program to best serve students.
Schools built decades ago often lack the equipment and infrastructure
necessary to do more than reheat and serve one or two meal options each
day. In 2014, it was estimated that Maine schools alone would need
$58.8 million for equipment infrastructure upgrades needed to serve
healthy meals to all of our students. I am pleased that the Agriculture
Appropriations Subcommittee has consistently recognized this need, and
in Fiscal Year 2019 appropriated $30 million for School Equipment
Assistance Grants. Through this funding, Maine will be able to
competitively award $85,470 to school districts in need of updated
equipment.
Nutrition directors at Mount View High School in Thorndike, Maine,
used USDA Equipment Assistance funding to purchase a blast chiller to
accommodate increased quantities of fruits and vegetables. Thanks to
this equipment, the school is now able to quickly and safely preserve
the food's freshness while reducing spoilage. Other schools have
acquired hot holding cabinets, mobile food carts, and even combination
ovens, which prepare foods faster and maintain more vitamin and
nutrient content compared with many other cooking methods. Our
legislation would codify and improve this successful grant program to
better meet the growing need nationwide.
The School Food Modernization Act seeks to help school food service
personnel offer a wide variety of nutritious and appealing meals to all
students. First, the bill would provide targeted grant assistance to
supply the seed funding needed to upgrade kitchen infrastructure or to
purchase high-quality equipment. Second, it would establish a loan
guarantee assistance program within USDA to help schools acquire new
equipment. Finally, to aid school food services personnel in running
successful, healthy programs, the legislation would authorize USDA to
provide support on a competitive basis to highly qualified third-party
trainers to develop and administer training and technical assistance,
including online programs.
I appreciate that some provisions of this legislation were
incorporated into previous versions of the Children Nutrition
Reauthorization legislation approved by the Senate Agriculture
Committee. I encourage our colleagues to continue to support school
kitchen equipment needs as the reauthorization process continues.
Mr. President, if our school children are going to be able to learn
and succeed, they need their minds and bodies to be fully nourished.
This bill would help us achieve that goal.
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